Dervi_ denies running to succeed Annan March 18, 2006 Turkish Daily News Original Source: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=38512 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Kemal Dervi_, the Turkish head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), declared that he is not running in the race to replace U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will step down from his position when his second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.  I assumed my responsibility at the UNDP a short time ago. I'm an economis t, and I've always worked on economic affairs. I want to continue working here as well. I'm not a candidate, Dervi_ was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency in an interview published in yesterday's edition of Spanish daily El Pais. Dervi_, the first person from a country that receives development assistance to hold the top post of the UNDP, took office last summer. Following his election as head of the UNDP in May, Dervi_ relinquished his post as a deputy of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), saying it would be improper to be actively engaged in politics while occupying a U.N. post. Appointed economy minister by then-Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit amid a financial crisis in 2001 in Turkey, Dervi_ designed and oversaw the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed economic reform program under Ecevit before the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the national elections in November 2002.  An excellent dark-horse candidate respected by all' The search for a successor to Anna n covers much space in global media reports and analyses. Earlier reports said there are different views among members of the U.N. Security Council on the issue. Russia and China back the customary procedure of rotating the post among the world's regions, while the United States and Britain are questioning the need to do so. Since the United Nations was established in October 1945, the post of secretary-general has been held by Trygve Lie of Norway (1946-1953), Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden (1953-1961), U Tha nt of Burma (1961-1971), Kurt Waldheim of Austria (1972-1981), Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru (1982-1991) and Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt (1992-1996). Annan, who is from Ghana, has served since January 1997. In addition to Dervi_ the list of candidates widely discussed in the international press include: Aleksander Kwasniewski, former Polish president; Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvian president; Surakiart Sathirathai, Thailand's deputy prime minister; Shashi Tharoor, India, U.N. undersecretary-general for communications and public information and an award-winning journalist/novelist; Ban Ki Moon, South Korea's foreign minister; Jose Ramos-Horta, foreign minister of East Timor and a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Jayantha Dhanapala, Sri Lanka, who served as U.N. undersecretary-general for disarmament and as ambassador to the United States; Goh Chok Tong, former prime minister of Singapore; and Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Jordanian ambassador to the United Nations.  I seriously doubt that the Asians, having allowed Africa to hold the position for 15 straight years (Boutros-Ghali and two terms for Kofi Annan), and not having had an Asian secretary-general for almost 40 years (since U Thant of Burma in the 1960s), will allow the brass ring to pass them by again. & For bureaucratic and historical reasons, the Asian group runs from the shores of the Mediterranean to the far islands of the South Pacific; it includes most of the Arab world and even Turkey, which has in Kemal Dervi_, currently head of the U.N. Development Program, an excellent dark-horse candidate respected by all, Richard Holbrooke, an ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration, said in February in his monthly column for U.S. daily The Washington Post.